After an opportunity to go hands-on with Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, it quickly comes across as a more dynamic soccer game. It still adapts a story that may be familiar to those caught up with the anime and manga. We’re still seeing a campaign that will mix things up by implementing major story moments during matches. From what I experienced, it came across as a more active and involved approach to matches with more flashy sorts of moves that both human players and the CPU could use to shake up match outcomes. During my session, I got to test out three elements of Captain Tsubasa 2. I dabbled with the Free Practice mode, went through a Main Episode match from the campaign, and checked out Offline Match. This meant going through a lot more hands-on bouts, rather than seeing what the story had to offer. However, that seemed for the best since it meant gameplay had an opportunity to stand out in that limited timespan. Go Ad-Free With Siliconera+View the site with no ads, be able to provide direct feedback about what we cover, and be automatically entered into our monthly PC game giveaway.Join Siliconera+ Captain Tsubasa 2 remains an accessible game when it comes to controls. The game automatically snaps you to the player closest to the opponent with the ball if your team isn’t in control. Passing is easy and automatically sends it to an available player ahead, with L1 letting you swap between folks on the field. Dribbling and tackling are another button, shots get a dedicated one, as do dashes and super moves to keep everything from being overwhelming. (Though I did wish the shot wasn’t a held action when I played.) One of the biggest differences in this entry is the implementation of additional Super actions following the Super Shots in Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions. Super Dribbles, Passes, and Tackles are all present. All of these are easy enough to pull off with a full Super Move Gauge due to the dedicated R2 button. I also found them incredibly helpful in both Offline Match and a Story match against Thailand Youth. Super Pass and Tackle especially proved pivotal sometimes. However, I did notice the opposing team also used them quite often, which meant a level of challenge I didn’t expect from the match. (It was a welcome one!) When paired with the Miracle Team abilities, which can be used once per match and require someone to meet certain conditions, it definitely meant it could feel a bit flashy. Images via Bandai Namco Another thing that struck me is how the narrative felt identifiable even to a newcomer. I’m unfamiliar with Captain Tsubasa, but knew the portion of the campaign I got to sample pulled from the World Youth Arc and Asian preliminaries. Starting with the Thailand Youth match especially helped add an element of emotion to the hands-on preview, since three Konsawatt brothers hoping to win so they could prove to their father that they wanted to keep pursuing their soccer dreams made them the kind of opponents I could easy connect with as I played. Though I only got to sample a small portion of Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, it feels designed to be an accessible entry filled with dynamic actions. The various Super Moves I tested encouraged flashy, but effective, responses to situations. All of them are easy to pull off. However, the opposing team is just as capable of doing so, encouraging someone to learn effective strategies to do their best. It seems like it could build on the last entry both in terms of gameplay and story. Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters will come to the Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on August 28, 2026. We may earn a commission if you purchase from certain links. Learn more here.